Mark Mulligan is one of the industry’s most astute observers and analysts. This guest column examines customer sharing, revenue cannibalization, and the next five years in music — “one of the music industry’s most dramatic periods of change. The last ten years might have been disruptive but the change that is coming will be even more transformative.” Continue Reading
It has been nearly a year since the rumor broke that Google would create a subscription music plan for YouTube. During this long (and continuing) lead-up, speculation and bafflement has been rampant. Here are three reasons the new service will succeed, and three reasons it won’t. Continue Reading
Juniper Research projected that revenue for digital music will be slow to rise from an estimated $12.3 billion in 2014 to about $13.9 billion in 2019. While listeners are likely to gravitate toward cloud-based services, Juniper’s report projected that pureplay streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora will be tested by the growth of personalized music services from Apple and Google. Continue Reading
Android Police released a report with details about the upcoming subscription service from YouTube. According to the site, the service will be called YouTube Music Key and the parent company’s Google Play Music All Access will be rebranded as Google Play Music Key. Continue Reading
Google has started testing a new form of advertising that gives listeners a direct link to a streaming service. The Wall Street Journal reported that the music services are paying for the pots by the click, similar to Google’s other paid text link ads. “We’re happy to help users quickly find legitimate sources for their favorite movies, music and more via Google search,” an unnamed Google rep told WSJ. Continue Reading
Ryan Farish is an electronic-music composer and producer, a pioneer of the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) genre which is surging in popularity, and a Grammy-nominated songwriter. He coined the defining sub-genre of his music as Positive Chillout, a category now in use by other musicians.
Farish will be featured onstage at RAIN Summit Indy, September 9 in Indianapolis, in a panel titled “EDM: Streaming a New Path to Success.” In anticipation, RAIN spoke with Ryan Farish by phone, asking about how his star career unfolded without the traditional leverage of broadcast radio or a major-label deal. Continue Reading
Christopher LaRosa, a product manager for YouTube Music, is leaving to join an unnamed startup. He spent about seven years at the Google subsidiary and was a key player in expanding the musical content available via YouTube. Some of his projects included getting YouTube data to count toward the Billboard 100 singles chart and the still in-development subscription music program. Continue Reading
Brief new items and worthy reads from around the web: Google execs join Spotify; blue notes for jazz and classical; new musical startups; UK’s anti-piracy program Continue Reading
In a splashy distribution gambit, and a timely reminder of YouTube’s enormous content depth as it prepares a music-only subscription service, Music Vault is augmenting its existing YouTube channel with the addition of at least 13,000 concert videos. Continue Reading
In the claim and counter-claim of the connected car frontier, the land grab has escalated from digital services planting flags on digital dashboards to broad technology platforms largely defining the operating systems of driving. In other words, Apple and Google are belting it out for dominance, just as they are with smartphones and tablets. The car is becoming a consumer electronics device.
In its the latest parry, Apple has announced nine new automakers to sign on with Apple’s dashboard OS, called CarPlay. Google is making its own news with Android Auto. Continue Reading
In a move that’s been rumored for several weeks now, Google announced yesterday that they’re buying the personalizable multichannel webcaster Songza. The purchase seems like an odd one for Google, given its historical preference for algorithmically-created products. The problem, however, is that music is difficult to program on a purely algorithmic basis: An intense Seals & Crofts song, for example, may sound acoustically similar to a mellow Led Zeppelin song, but an experienced music programmer (i.e., a human being) would be able to discern that they’re culturally very dissimilar.
RAIN founding editor Kurt Hanson explores why the Songza acquisition might be a smart investment for Google. Continue Reading
After a few weeks of speculation, Google has acquired Internet radio platform Songza. Financial details have not been disclosed.
Google’s announcement says that no immediate changes will happen to Songza, but “Over the coming months, we’ll explore ways to bring what you love about Songza to Google Play Music. We’ll also look for opportunities to bring their great work to the music experience on YouTube and other Google products.” Continue Reading